Bhitara Ratna Bhandar of Puri temple to be reopened again on July 18: Justice Rath

Puri: Bhitara (inner chamber) Ratna Bhandar of Shree Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri will be reopened again on Thursday, Justice Biswanath Rath, chairman of the supervisory committee, informed on Tuesday.

“We will again open the locks and go inside Bhitara Ratna Bhandar between 9.51 am and 12.15 pm on July 18. The valuables in the inner chamber will be shifted to the temporary store room and the ASI members will also be given some time to take stock of its structural stability. The entire event will be video-graphed,” he told reporters after a meeting of the 16-member high-level committee headed by him.

The inner chamber of the treasury of the Lords was reopened after 46 years by cutting open three locks on Sunday. The team saw boxes and almirahs (both steel and wooden), wooden chests and boxes (lying on the floor), but decided unanimously to shift the jewelleries on another date to the designated strong room as the administration had to focus on Bahuda Yatra and Suna Besha.

Notably, valuables from the outer chamber has been shifted to a temporary strong room in Changda Mekap room inside the temple premises in four wooden chests.

Speaking about the process, Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan said that the entire activity of opening Ratna Bhandar has been divided into three parts as per Standard Operating Procedure.

“The first part of opening the ‘Bahar Ratna Bhandar’ is completed and all ornaments have been shifted to the Treasury. The ‘Bhitar Ratna Bhandar’ will be opened soon. In between, ASI will take care of the repair work in Ratna Bhandar. After the repair is done, the ASI will hand over the things to the temple administration. The articles of the Ratna Bhandar will be shifted back and counting will be done. We are involving the Reserve Bank of India in the counting process to maintain transparency. The entire process will be videographed,” he told ANI.